The Ones We Fight (2)
by rizzlescalzonafic
Summary: Set after season 2 in Rizzoli & Isles and during Season 9 of Grey's Anatomy. Instead of being in Seattle, they are in Boston at Mass General. Maura and Jane are married and are good friends with Arizona and Callie as well as many members of the hospital staff through Jane's many visits. In my world Maura did a surgical internship. I do not own either tv shows.
1. Chapter 1

Baily scrubbed a hand over her face, turned her neck each direction until a resounding pop caused the intern next to her to look up startled. Just when the intern opened her mouth she gave a good glare. It had been a really long night in the pit, the bad weather causing too many MVA's for one day, and she was ready to leave. Only a few more minutes and watching her intern squirm made her smile. On the inside of course. She would never show it to them because they would stop squirming.

The intern stood up, mumbling something and pointing off to the side. Bailey narrowed her eyes. "I'll just, um, go, um...over there. Yah, I'll go over there."

"Mm'hmm." The intern skirried away.

"If I'm not mistaking I think you enjoyed that too much." A gravely voice came from behind her.

Bailey spun and starred at the very tall detective. "Ah Detective Rizzoli. What are you doing here?" She glanced up and down at the accident prone Boston Homicide Detective. She'd been in and out of this ER way too many times in the last few years. "You're not injured are because we really need to stop meeting this way?"

"Ah no." The brunette chuckled before sobering. "My partner brought in another rape victim." Her voice was low so that no one could over hear. "I need to ask her some questions."

This was the 12th rape victim in two weeks. The perp had made a fatal mistake. He'd left number 12 hanging on to life. The whole city was scared. The hospital had beefed up security and escorted all female employees to and from their cars after nightfall. Seeing as how it was winter in Massachusetts darkness came pretty early and left really late. The sooner this bastard was off the streets the better. The eleventh victim had been found dead just like the previous ones. Jane wanted to nail him to a wall and hurt him very badly. Instead she'd just make sure he would spend forever in jail. That is if they could find him.

"Yes. Follow me." Miranda led the detective to a private room that had a uniformed cop in front of it.

R&IR&iR&IR&I

"So..." Jane watched Maura peer into the brain matter in her hand.

She didn't look up. "Can I help you Detective?"

"I was hoping." Jane scruffed her toe against the floor. Why did things have to be so hard all the time? "That we could do lunch?" She'd barely seen her wife lately. With the late nights trying to solve this seriel rapist case both of them had been putting in long hours. She'd thought the incident in the woods had fix'd things. They'd been better for awhile but now things were sliding backwards again. Maura was pissed at her. and she had every right to but Jane couldnt figure out how to get it through her thick skull that Doyle would have shot her. Frankly they were getting along like cats and dogs right now but she missed her and she couldn't wait till this weekend to just crash and get lost in a bottle of beer... Or many bottles of beer.

"Can't." Maura replied never taking her eyes off the brain. "I stayed here all night to do the last victim's autopsy. I'm heading home soon."

Jane glanced at the clock. It was only 10 AM. "Okay. See you at home tonight." Maura didn't respond just turned back to the body on the table.

With one long look at the blonde she loved Jane let the doors to the morgue close shut. She knew the signs. She'd seen it in her parents but just didn't know it until it blew up in their face. They were headed to divorce.

R&IR&iR&IR&I

"Boston Police. Open up!" Frost glanced at Jane and Korsak before kicking the door in. The detectives burst through the door with their guns raised.  
"Clear." She called from the living room.

"Runner!" Frost screamed before heading out the kitchen window.

Jane hit the sidewalk at a sprint and skidded on the ice as the suspect ducked into expensive sports car. The engined revved and tires squeeled as the car peeled out into the icy Boston night. She switched directions and headed for her cruiser. Frost ran for his.

"Detective Rizzoli on pursuit. Suspect is in green Lambourghini. License plate number..." She hit the sirens and stepped on the gas. "Heading south on Conord."

Damn that car was fast. She skidded around a turn quickly correcting as the cruiser hit a patch of black ice. The tail lights were getting farther away.

"Now on Blanchard." Frost's car was still behind her and Korsak had moved down another street, their status updates filtering through the scanner.

R&IR&iR&IR&I

"Holy shit." Every eye in the attending lounge turned to April Kepner. The God loving red-headed ditz of a doctor did not say holy shit. She just didn't. Her eyes were glued to the tv screen, her mouth hanging open like a fish.

Most of the attending surgeons were in the lounge not paying attention to it or anything else. It had been a long day of surgeries and most of them couldn't find it in themselves to head out into the atrousious weather that had made their day so tiring. It wasn't like it never snowed in Boston. It snowed every year. Why did snow and ice turn people into idiots?

Slowly the eyes drifted to the tv screen when April didn't budge or even blink.

"Turn it up." Karev spoke. Someone hit the volume.

_This is Marcia Atkins with the five o'clock news_. The screen showed the streets of Boston from above and what appeared to be a ton of police cars flying through the streets chasing a green sports car. _We've been following Boston Police for the last forty-five minutes on what appears to be a very dangerous and high speed chase. An unnamed source from the Boston Police have told us that detectives went to question a suspect in the case of the Boston Rapist when this pursuit broke out. What we are about to show you happened around 15 minutes ago and is quite graphic. _

All the doctors in the room jumped when a semi truck blew through an intersection right into the drivers side of the lead police car flipping over on top of the car. The vehicles spun through the intersection crashing into a light pole.

The second car barely avoided the mangle of vehicles. A few yards down the car screeched to a stop; the rest of the cars blew past him still in pursuit.  
The screen cut back to the anchor with one corner of the screen showing a smaller picture of police still in pursuit of the fleeing sport's car.

_It's being reported that fire and EMT is on scene_.

Just then pagers in the room started going off.

Hunt was on his phone. "Listen up people." The noise in the room trailed off. "Driver's alive... barely. Grey you are with me. Everyone else prep for multiple crush wounds, head and abdominal trauma. Someone get Torres out of surgery."

He paused at the door looking over his crew.

"It's Jane."


	2. Chapter 2

_I felt this point in the story was better off being told for the doctor's POV. I needed to convey the urgency of the situation and I felt this was the best way to go about it. There may be some concern about the relationships in this story but trust me when I say I am a firm believer in Maura and Jane as a couple as well as Arizona and Callie as a couple and not messing with those combinations._

R&I R&I R&I

"What happened?" Callie practically screamed, skidding to a halt in front of the group of doctors and interns dressed in trauma gowns. The interns looked startled not understanding what made this MVA so much different than any others. They'd never heard the frantic tone in the normally rock solid ortho doctor's voice before. None of the attendings were looking at her. Bailey had her head down. April was surprisingly white with a shocked look in her eyes. She'd seen that look in her wife's eyes when she'd seen her right after the crash. Eyes that couldn't process the horror she'd seen. Christina looked like her normal self. Derek looked deep in thought. Owen and Meredith were nowhere to be seen.

The ER was surprisingly quiet for such a crappy winter day. All she'd been told when Karev came into surgery was that Jane had been in a MVA. Obviously Jane hadn't arrived yet. "WHAT HAPPENED?" Grabbing a trauma gown she practically threw it on stalking over to Bailey who looked like she might cry and that scared her to the core. "Bailey?" She whispered. "Please."

Bailey cleared her throat trying to get the muscles to work again. "There was a high speed police chase." Bailey's arm reached out to touch her shoulder. "She must have been going 80-90. Maybe faster." She raised a shaking hand to her forehead. "I don't know. A semi-truck t-boned her. It flipped on top of her car."

Callie just stood there trying to process what she'd heard. "Chase. 90mph. Semi-truck." Her eyes locked with Bailey.

"Owen and Meredith are on seen..." she trailed off. In the distance a siren could be heard. Bailey gave her a reassuring nod. "Callie. They've been trying to get her out of there for three hours." Owen's last check-in had been bleak to say the least. "It's not..."

Callie interrupted her, "Jane is not going to die. We've put her back together more times then anyone should. She's a fighter. She. Will. Not. Die."

The sirens were coming getting louder now. "Listen people." Callie broke away. She looked at the attendings before turning her gaze to the interns. There was steal in her voice. "This is a highly decorated, very important Boston Police detective. We asses her. We get her into the lodox. We see what damage there is. Then," Callie turned back to the attendings. "we fix her. We do not let our emotions get in the way. We are professionals. We are doctors." She could now see the reflection of the ambulance in the trauma room doors as it was arriving. "We do not let her die. Understood?"

Eyes locked on her.

"Good. Let's go."

"What do we have?" Bailey called out as Owen burst through the door of the ambulance.

"Tachycardic and hypertensive en route. Obvious head, chest, abdominal and skeletal injuries. In and out of consciousness." His teeth clattered.

Callie pushed up to the head of the gurney. Jane's whole face was crusted in blood. Fresh blood glistened on top of it. She couldn't tell what damage was done through all the blood. Jane's right eye was open wide. The whites contrasting starkly against the dark blood. So much fear could be seen. Her blood-tinged teeth were chattering underneath the oxygen mask on her face.

"Jane?" Callie called firmly yet reassuringly. She could freak out later.

"She's hemorraging." Someone called out.

"Jane. You're going to be okay. We've got you." She reassured.

"There's so much blood. Where's it coming from?"

The voices behind her were growing more intense. She could see Jane's lips move beneath the mask but couldn't hear her through all the noise.

"Shut up!" she called. The noise increased. "Shut up!" she yelled cringing at the touch of panic that slipped through.

The voices cut off abruptly. She pulled the oxygen mask from Jane's face. She could hear the gurgling sounds over the chattering teeth. She leaned closer keeping her gaze locked on Jane's.

" .ttte" Janes's chest heaved. "e.l. ." Another heave. "Mm. ."

"Tell Maura what?" She reassured her. Jane's whole body was shaking now.

" .i'm" Her eye was drifting shut. "Ssss...rrrryy"

"Rizzoli you stay awake." She cut in firmly replacing the mask. "You stay awake and you are going to tell her yourself." Callie locked eyes with Bailey.

"Lodox now! Move it!" Bailey ordered. The voices came filtered back in as they were moving through the doors. Bailey ordering people out of the way.

Someone called out for O neg blood. An intern started to run sensing the real urgency.

"Rizzoli. Stay with me. Jane you stay with me. Everything will be okay." Jane was hyperventilating now a high pitched whimpering sound coming from her. Callie wanted to collapse. She'd seen Jane stay strong through two surgeries to save the function in her hands. She'd seen her fight to be released from the hospital just three days after she'd blown a hole through her body effectively shattering her right scapula just a year before. This was bad. Very bad.

"On three. One. Two. Three." She was deposited on the lodox machine the whimpering increased. Suddenly Bailey was touching Callie's arm pushing strength into her with the simple touch. "Breathe Callie." The 13 seconds it took for the scan seemed like a lifetime.

"Holy cow. How is she alive?" The weird intern blurted out. Callie saw red and turned on her.

"This patient is alive and conscious. Get out." The intern was frozen in place.

"Let's move people." Bailey cut through as the gurney rushed pass.

Taking a menacing step forward. "Go!" She screeched. "I don't want to see your face again." With that she twirled and sprinted back through the trauma room doors her rage draining away.

She reached her friend's side in seconds and grabbed Janes hand that was frantically reaching for her.

"Get those IV's up." Bailey voice rose the cacophony of noise. Jane was still shaking violently and whimpering more frantic.

"Compressed skull fracture. Probable bleed." Derek called out his eyes locked with Meredith's over Callie's head. Too much time had passed. Too much time was still passing. He needed in there now.

"No breath sounds on the left. I need a chest tube." Christina called out.

Jane's eye started to roll up her body shaking violently.

"She's seizing!" Derek called out. Everyone took a collective breath tensing at the sight of their patient's jerking body.

"Systolic's down." The shaking stopped.

Alarms were going off now. She stayed focused on her friends face praying in Spansih under her breath for her to survive. The only way any of them, her, Arizona, Maura, were surviving this year from hell was because this head strong detective that refused to give up in any circumstance.

"V-fib."

"She's crashing."

"Get her on her back."

"Starting chest compressions."

"Get me an intubation tray."

Her hand was jerked away and she was pulled back from the gurney. The voices blending into one another. "Please God. Please God. Please God." They'd grown up together, two lesbian girls stuck in that Catholic school. They'd gotten close but never had feelings more than friendship for each other. They'd graduated. One went to med school and one went to the Police Academy.

"Callie?"

They'd drifted over the years but when Jane landed on her operating room table with her hands in shreds it was like there never was a break in their friendship. They'd reconnected. Jane had kept her strong through this whole ordeal with the plane crash and Arizona's leg and growing frustration. She'd been her shoulder to lean on this last year and she had been Janes's shoulder during her fallout with Maura. Christina and Meredith would say that each other was the other's person. Just like Arizona and Maura were each others person.

"Callie!"

And now Jane was dying.

"Callie!"

She was dying. Her life leaving her in leaps and bounds.

"Callie!"

Oh God. How was she going to tell Maura. How could she tell Maura her wife was dead.

"Callie snap out of it." Someone was shaking her, calling to her. Richard was standing in front of her. "Go get Arizona."

"What?" She blinked. Looking at the now empty room. The floor was covered in blood and surgical gloves and gauze. It looked like a warzone.

"I said go get Arizona."

"I don't..." Her voice trailed off. "I don't understand."

"She's up in the OR."

"She's alive?"

Richard nodded slowly. "For now." He led her toward the door. "Go get Arizona. Maura is going to need her."


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you for all the reviews. it makes me write faster. the is a hard story to tell but one I feel is important to tell. It wont be easy and it will be painful at times but I ask that wou stick with it and you will be rewarded. Music plays an important part of Grey's Anatomy so I've decided to add it as a third dimension to the story I'm telling. Lyrics are from KT Tunstall's Universe & U. I don't own any of the characters. I just borrow them to tell a story of pain, faith, hope and perseverance.

Chapter Three

Meredith watched Derek look over the lasted CT scans just outside Jane's CCU room. His frown was deepening by the second. The scans didn't look promising.

"She was good. Real good." He remembered Maura on the first day of her intern year. "I think those babies were more scared than any group I've seen."

"That's saying something." Meredith nodded. She wasn't as familiar with the blonde Medical Examiner as some of the attendings that had been there longer.

Derek nodded. "They were shaking with fear yet she was a rock. It was a horrible first day. A building collapse and we had mass casualties. We were overwhelmed and those babies were thrust into situations they shouldn't have been head first. By the end of that day three of them never came back."

He seemed lost in thought for a second and Meredith placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "We hadn't even had time to get a handle on their skill level when the first victim came in." Derek shuddered. It was the worst he'd ever seen and he'd seen a lot. The babies hadn't seen anything yet.

"It was like her skull had been ripped from her body. You could see her brain and not just a little bit of it. Most of her intestines were hanging out."

Meredith winced remember her first day. She was surprised only three quit and not more.

"Interns were vomiting and panicking. Not Maura. Before any of the attendings could even move she pushed through the front calling out orders that she shouldn't even know how to do. And her face was so stoic."

Derek chuckled. "After the shock wore off all the other interns hated her. They thought she was teachers pet. She knew all the answers. The others would grasp at straws and she would just calmly state the answers. Sometimes she would state more than the answers." He chuckled rembering the sheer amount of facts she was capable of pulling out of nowhere.

"What do you mean?"

"You remember how Lexi would just lose it after the shooting? How she would just go off on rants?" Derek pulled his eyes away from the scans. "Oh Mer I'm sorry."

Meredith just held up a hand, giving him a weak smile. "It's alright. That must have been funny yet distracting."

He chuckled remembering her frequent rambles especially during complex surgeries. "It was. As great as she was diagnosing things she couldn't get a handle on informing family members." He remembered the train wreck that was Dr. Maura Isles. "She could never get a handle on their emotions."

"We'll that makes sense. It's really hard to know just how much to say and how to break it to families." Meredith cut in. "Most interns have trouble with that."

"It never got better. She just couldn't do it and she was oblivious. It wasn't just the families and patients either. She just didn't interact well with most people. After awhile we thought maybe she was high functioning Asperger's but she was such a skilled trauma surgeon even in her first year we didn't press the issue. We just tried to coach her in the people skills she lacked."

Derek watched Maura through the glass CCU doors. She was sitting next to Jane's bed. Jane's hand firmly tucked into hers. Maura's shoulders were slumped in the chair with her back to the door. She was starring at Janes's face. After the emergency surgery to stabilize her the nurses had cleaned her up the best they could. Her face was extremely swollen and raw. Her left arm and leg were in splints. She wasn't stable enough to repair the multiple broken bones. And those were just the breaks you could see on the outside. If she survived she would need many surgeries to repair the damage bones. She was scheduled to go back to the OR in the morning to fix her lungs and abdominal wounds. Arizona was sitting in the corner her, head tilted back, her eys closed. Beside her a black man in a suit he hadn't seen before.

He turned back to Meredith. "For as good as she was as a trauma surgeon she was even better as a neurosurgeon. She knows brains, Mer." He shook his head. "She's fascinated by them. The science of all the synapsis that have to fire to make us who we are. She was an amazing neurosurgeon."

"If she was so great, why did she quit?" It was an innocent and logical question but Derek's face clouded over.

"It doesn't matter."

"Derek?"

"Just drop it Mer. We lost an amazing doctor but the Boston Police force gained an even better ME. She was meant to be there not here."

Meredith opened her mouth again but he cut her off. "The paralytic's are off. Let's go." He headed for the door.

_You know there's no need to hide away  
You know I tell the truth  
We are just the same_

Maura didn't glance up when the doors drifted open. She couldn't take her eyes off Jane. If she did Jane would shatter and disappear. Or she would. Or they both would. Her face was cold from the tears that she cried. She couldn't seem to stop them. Her breathe came in gasping hiccups. Jane's came from a ventilator and tube in her mouth.

"I'm Doctor Shepherd." She heard Derek introduce himself.

"Detective Frost." Barry's voice sounded shaken. "Rizzoli's my partner."

"She's in the best hands here. I'm going to ask you to step out. We need to examine her."

She could hear the chair scrape against the floor.

"I'm not going anywhere." That was Arizona. Maura squeezed her eyes shut.

"Maura." She felt Barry's warm hand on her shoulder but refused to look away. "I'll be in the waiting room." He squeezed her shoulder and a moment later the automatic doors to the room opened and closed.

_I can feel everything you do  
Hear everything you say  
Even when you're miles away_

Even in this hospital surrounded by doctor's, Maura had never felt this alone before. She was pissed when Jane shot her father and terrified of her wife. Her wife didn't think twice about raising that gun and firing on a family member. Deep in her rational mind that had been suppressed by terror she knew he was nothing more than a sperm donor and a very dangerous mob boss. But she couldn't get over it. She just couldn't.

Everything spun out of control in their life. She'd been so mad at Jane and she couldn't talk to her. She wanted nothing more to sink into her arms and cry her eyes out in her wife's beautiful strong arms. But both of them were in pieces barely hanging on and she couldn't go to Jane. Jane tried. She really did. She kept pushing Maura to open up to her. And she apologized. Everyday she apologized. Until one day she stopped. They'd verbally started in on each other and could barely stop. All of Boston Police was walking on eggshells around them. The bickering kept at it. Intensifying until a cat fight like no other broke out in front of the whole bric. After Jane yelled that Maura loved her Mob father more than her wife Cavanaugh broke in and ordered them into his office. He gave them an ultimadem to get their heads out of their asses and figure out how to keep it out of work or they'd both be fired.

Jane moved into the guesthouse that night and they'd figured out how to be civil to each other at work but she still couldn't open up to Jane. She'd started leaning on Arizona Robbins then. Robbins understood the bitterness she felt inside at a love one doing the unthinkable.

Looking at Jane now. None of it mattered anymore. She been so mad she missed her chance to fix it. And now that chance might be gone forever.

_When you're on your own  
I'll send you a sign  
Just so you know_

Derek nodded at Arizona. He lowered his voice. "I don't think she should be in here for this.". Doctors often share looks that communicate a thousand words they don't want patients and family to know. As much as Dr. Maura Isles had been oblivious to human relationships as intern and resident he wasn't going to chance it. She was no longer a doctor, she was a family member mourning a severely injured love one.

Arizona nodded at him. She'd been in this place once before. Callie was in that bed fighting for her life. Fighting for her baby's life. She stood up and headed to her friend's side.

"Maura? They need to do an exam. I think it's best if we go out to the hallway."

Maura didn't blink. "No." She sounded surprisingly strong. Her words firm. There would be no swaying her. "I'm not leaving her."

"Maura." Arizona gently lifted Maura's face to hers. After a moment Maura raised her eyes from Jane. In them was fire and ice, fear and hope and a steely determination.

"Okay. But we are sitting over there and letting Derek do his job." Maura started to protest but Arizona refused to let her, guiding her to the chair Frost had been sitting in moments before. She tucked Maura's cold hand in to her's and nodded at Derek.

Derek stepped up to Jane adjusting the sedative. "Jane." He spoke with crisp clear words yet his voice was soft and reassuring.

"Jane can you open your eyes?" Maura watched intently as Jane's eyes fluttered before closing again. "There's a tube in your mouth. It's breathing for you. Please don't fight it." Jane's eyes kept fluttering but refused to open.

"You're doing great Jane. Take your time."

He picked up her hands. "Can you squeeze my hands?" Maura watched their hands intently.

Meredith looked over at Derek.

"Jane can you move finger? Move your finger for me."

Suddenly Maura felt like she couldnt breathe and with a shuddering step she bolted from the room.


	4. Chapter 4

_Why?  
The question that is never far away  
The healing doesn't come from being explained_

The elder Rizzoli had tears streaming down her face. She seemed to be aging by the second. She was tucked underneath Frankie's arm. He was still in uniform but had pulled off his tie and unbuttoned the top. His patrol cap was tossed haphazardly on a table. They had set up camp in a private waiting room near the neurological CCU. Only Frost and Korsak left a few times to take care of police business but both detectives came back shortly preferring to stay and support the Rizzoli-Isles family. It was Jane. They couldn't be anywhere else anyway.

"It's a circus out there." Frost stated with a frown.

"What do you mean?" Tommy spoke up. He was still in jail for running over his priest while drunk when Jane was last in the hospital.

"The media. They are like vultures." Jane had always been popular with the media. Being the first female homicide detective was inventive enough for them to be enthralled with her. The fact that she had been the youngest officer ever promoted, just three years after graduating from the academy, was fuel to the media fire.

"The hospital can help prepare a statement if you want. It might keep them out of your hair for a bit." Arizona spoke up for the first time since she arrived shortly after leaving Callie to prep.

Maura looked lost between being a doctor who knew the reality of the situation and being a wife who was scared to death of the situation. She was standing in front of the window starring out unseeing at the world below. Doctor Shepherd had just left after a long private conference with Maura in the far corner of the waiting room.

"Maura." Korsak led her to the chair next to Angela.

"Is my Janie going to be okay?" Angel's normally low-pitched voice sounded high and garbled through her tears.

"Her ICP is still increasing even with the shunt."

"What does that mean?" Frankie looked from his mom to Arizona and back.

Maura finally looked up, her eyes bright red with tears she couldn't let fall. "It means that there is pressure in her skull that is squeezing her brain. It's not getting better. They've increased the anti-inflammatory and are adding a different dosage of seizure medicine..." Maura trailed off remembering the seizure that caught Jane in the middle of the night. In less than 24 hours Jane had suffered three seizures.

"They were trying to get her to 48 hours before opening Jane back up but it just not possible. They don't want Jane seizing again or more brain bleeds. I can't lie, you all know that."

They nodded and Korsak wrapped his arm around her. "Just tell us Maura so we know how to support Janie. We can take it."

Maura wasn't sure if Angela could take it. With a shuddering breathe she stood up and stepped away from them. She had to distance herself.

"The head injury is going to... If Jane survives the surgery... Her head injury. She may not wake up. If she does. She has a severe traumatic brain injury."

Angela gasped. "What does that mean. Will Janie not remember us?"

"It's a possibility. Jane will probably have to learn how to do everything again or she might not." It wasn't exactly a lie. "She may struggle for words, or be blind, paralysed, not recognize us or recognize us and not be able to respond. She may need to learn to eat, speak, think again. We won't know anytime soon. The brain is the most mysterious and complex organ in the human body. No two injuries are the same."

She took a step closer to the door. "If she survives, Jane, she's going to have a long road and well it's going to be as painful for us as her... Maybe even more painful. So we are going to have to be her voice until... Maybe forever. So if you can't do that then you should leave now." Maura's voice remained firm despite the tears that streamed down her face.

"Janie knows we are all there for her." Korsak spoke up.

"No." Maura squeezed her eyes shut. "She thinks... I hate her. I have to go sit with her." Maura once again found herself fleeing down the hospital corridors.

_Breathe  
Sometimes I feel that's all I can do  
Pain so deep that I can hardly move_

Arizona was sitting in the lounge with Callie a few hours later. They were supposed to be eating lunch but neither felt like food. Callie sat deep in thought, a ton of films spread around her.

"She's obliterated the work I did on her scapula last year.". Callie stated absent mindedly before holding up another film.

With a sigh Arizona moved over to a chair and sat down with a wince. She'd been on her feet too long already.

"I'll go in and fix her radius, ulna and hand tomorrow. She's too unstable to work on her shoulder. I think we can get by with splinting it. Besides everyone else will be in the way. She's got a long road with recovery but she should get most function back." Callie continued on.

"I think that's the last of her worries." Arizona's words caused Callie to glance up, taking her in.

Arizona was rubbing her residual limb, her face scrunched in pain. Callie took a step forward, opened her mouth, then thought better of it.

Arizona breathed a sigh of relief that her wife didn't come over. "She tried to open her eyes."

"That's good." Callie smiled. It quickly turned to a frown when Arizona didn't elaborate. "What else?" She prompted. Callie barely remembered much of her early days after accident. What she did remember was fuzzy and very strange.

Arizona shook her head. "Her brain rattled around in her head like marbles Callie." She winced at how that sounded.

"Yeah, I know." Callie took a step toward Arizona. "I can help you with that." She motioned towards Arizona's leg.

She wasn't going to think about her leg, or Callie or the thousands of emotions tied to them. No Arizona Robbins was definitely not going down that route. She pulled the prosthetic back on and stood up. "She didn't do anything else."

Callie took a step forward with a pleading look on her face. She was so tired of being the bad guy. "Arizona."

"No!" Arizona held up her hand. There was venom in her voice and ice in her eyes. "Just... Fix Jane. This is killing Maura so... if you want to make it all better... just fix her." With that she brushed past Callie.

_So here I am  
What's left of me  
Where glory meets my suffering_

"We're ready Dr. Hunt." The anesthesiologist looked at the group of surgeons in front of him. Multiple surgeries would be happening at the same time to get in and out as fast as possible and minimize further surgeries.

"Dr. Torres your up first." The plan was for her to set the displased fractures in Jane's arm and leg. Then start on the more complicated hand surgery. But she wasn't looking at Jane. Instead her eyes were focused on the observation gallery. Arizona was sitting in the back row. Maura stood next to the monitor looking down on Jane.

"Dr. Isles will be fine." Derek drew her attention back to the present, motioning toward Jane's leg.

"Okay, Jane it's time to be the badass detective that you are. And we are rock stars So you just be badass and pull through and we in all our awesomeness will take care of everything else."

_I'm alive  
Even though a part of me has died  
You take my heart and breathe it back to life  
I fall into your arms open wide  
When the hurt and the healer collide_

Up in the galley Arizona actually chuckled and Maura felt a smile grace her face. It disappeared as the popping sound of broken bones realigning filtered through the speaker.

She turned her attention back to her friend. "I didn't think marriage would be this hard. We've spent more time in this marriage fighting than well not fighting."

Arizona chuckled. "I know. You and Jane and your 'shot my sperm donor in front of me fight' and Callie and I and our amputation fight. God that sounds crazy."

Maura had to chuckle at how obsurd it sounded. Jane's brain was exposed and doctors had there hands inside Jane's chest and abdomin." What the hell are we doing Arizona?" Doctor Maura Isles didn't cuss but right then in that moment she just didn't care.

"Callie saved your life. She made the unthinkable decision and she saved your life. Jane reacted as a police officer and did what she was trained to do and I made her life hell. She wasn't right. I don't love my sperm donor more than her. And I might not be able to tell her that."

_Breathe  
Sometimes it's all I can do  
Pain so deep that I can hardly move  
Just keep my eyes completely fixed on you  
Lord take hold and pull me through_

"She'll wake up." Arizona reassuringly. She wasn't sure of much lately except the constant ache in her left thigh but she was sure Jane would pull through. She looked down at Callie while reaching over to grasp Maura's hand. "She's going to wake up and we are all going to be fine."

**AN**: song is Mercy Me, "The Hurt & The Healer"


	5. Chapter 5

"At what point is this not okay anymore?" Frankie looked from his mother to Lt. Cavanaugh then back to his sister's hospital room.

Maura sat in the seat next to Jane's bed, one hand clutching Jane's, the other propping her head up. She'd been there for days refusing to budge from the spot. Refusing to eat or sleep, only moving when Jane was taken to the OR for her third surgery to replace a faulty shunt.

"What that my daughter is brain dead?" Angela shrieked. "Or that my daughter-in-law might as well be! I-I mean look at them." Angela pointed frantically at the room, tears streaming down her face.

"Janie's not brain dead ma!" Frankie had that whiny tone to his voice. They all were on edge and the seriousness of the situation was getting to them. Reality was striking fast that Jane wasn't just going to bounce right out of bed this time.

"She's not." Derek agreed. "Think of it more like her brain is resting so it can heal." That wasn't exactly the truth but it wasn't necessarily a lie. There was still so much unknown to the brain. "The press conference is in a few minutes. Is there anything else you need right now?" It was decided, after much debate, that the press needed to be addressed. The mass of media had quickly become a nusence, hounding the family when all they needed was space. It was Maura who finally suggested just giving the media information to get them to back off.

"Just for my Janie to wake up." Angela pleaded. Derek opened his mouth but he was cut off. "I know, it takes time."

"I'm getting tired of hearing that." Frankie added his two cents fingering the flowers that had been placed on a stand right outside Jane's room. Come on Jane. Open those eyes. He urged his older sister silently through the window.

RI RI RI RI RI RI

Detective Frost along with most of the bric stopped working at 10 minutes after 11 am, four days after a semi-truck ruined Jane's life. Everyone at headquarters was putting on fake smiles and pretending that Jane, so full of life, would walk through those doors with some wise crack. Frost was trying to work but he couldn't keep his eyes off Jane's desk. In four short days the files and general work clutter had been cleared and in its place lay cards and words of encouragement. Someone had placed a stuffed teddy-bear in a police uniform in the middle of the pile.

Frost felt incredibly tired. Jane and Maura were the only people who didn't give him grief on his queezy stomach issues. Jane taught him more in the short years they'd been partners than he'd learned in all his previous years on the force. They were great together, Frost with his computer skills and Jane with her intuition. He still couldn't figure out how she could come up with the one clue that broke cases open when all seemed hopeless and the case was well on its way to being a cold case.

In the two months that Jane was forced to be on desk duty after the hostage and shooting at headquarters, Jane solved an incredible number of cases that had been closed for years. Truthfully as great as Jane was as a homicide detective she was even better at solving cold cases.

A murmur broke out in the bric. On the main tv Lt. Cavanaugh and Jane's doctor walked into what looked like a makeshift press conference room. Someone turned up the volume as all activity ground to a halt.

"Four days ago Boston police detectives attempted apprehend a suspect for questioning. The suspect fled the scene and multiple officers were involved in a high speed motor vehicle chase. Detective Jane Rizzoli was injured when an 18 wheeler failed to yield the right of way. The family of Detective Rizzoli would like to extend their utmost gratitude to the first responders, fire, EMT, and the diligent work of the doctors. This is a difficult time for both the families and the Boston Police force. We are reminded daily that Detective Rizzoli is not the only sick or injured patient at this hospital. The family is grateful for the out pouring of support but asks that you respect their need for privacy and space, respect all the families of patients here need for privacy and space." Cavanaugh's voice sounded hollow, the strain of the last few days evident, in the worry on his face. The LT was gruff but saw Jane as a daughter. He looked over at Doctor Shepherd. "We will now answer a few questions."

The press came to life suddenly speaking as one collective whole.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, one at a time." Cav hated the press. Dealing with the media circus as he called them was his least favorite part of his job.

"Is it true that Detective Rizzoli is in a coma?"

Well they don't beat around the bush. Barry thought.

"Yes. At this time Jane is in a comatose state while she recovers from a serious brain injury as well as several other injuries. She has undergone several surgeries in a short period of time and it is not uncommon for patients with the type and severity of Detective Rizzoli's injuries to slip into a coma so the body can heal. Right now we she is critical but stable."

It was clear the doctor thought out his response carefully. Jane's condition had been upgraded from grave.

"Do you expect her to wake up?" Someone on the far side of the room asked.

Derek took longer to answer this question. He spent a long time with Maura discussing just how much information she wanted to release.

"We are cautiously optimistic that Jane will come out of the coma as her body heals." Patients with Janes injuries often slipped from coma's into semi-conscious states. He knew Maura was concerned about this. He was concerned about it to but for the mental well-being of Mrs. Rizzoli their fears remained unvoiced.

"How long will it take?"

"With these types of injuries there is no time frame."

The press turned on Lt. Cavanaugh then. "Is Detective Rizzoli going to be released from the police force."

"It's too early to be making decisions like that." Cav forced out through gritted teeth. "Jane is on indefinite emergency medical leave at this time."

"Was the suspect that Detective Rizzoli was chasing the Boston Rapist?"

"That's an ongoing investigation. We cannot comment at this time."

"Is it true that the semi driver's blood alcohol was three times the legal limit?"

Cav's hands tightened on the podium until his knuckles turned white. "That is also an ongoing investigation and cannot comment at this time." The whole of Boston's police force wanted to rip the semi driver's head off and shove it so far up his ass that he never saw the light of day again for drive while completely intoxicated through a blizzard nontheless. Like most drunk driving accidents the drunk usually walked away with relatively minor injuries while everyone else has to suffer.

"Is it true that Doctor Isle's handed in her resignation?"

Someone standing off to Barry's left muttered that Cav was going to blow. With a silent chuckle Barry thought that would be interesting to have on film. Their LT had already blown a fuse just the day before. He'd been sitting at his desk, starring at Jane's desk when the doors to the bric slammed open. Cav had stormed through muttering under his breath about stubborn medical examiner's needing her head examined if she thought she could just up and quit.

"No. Doctor Isles is on emergency family leave and is expected to return sometime in the future. In the meantime Doctor Pike from our Western Mass office will be filling in for Doctor Isles. That's the last question." Cav ended the conference and beat a hasty retreat from the conference room.

Back in the bric most of the officers not close to Jane looked stricken from finding out her injuries were so severe. Even if they weren't close to Jane, everyone respected her. That is except Detective Crow who had a slight smirk on his face.

"I knew the hard head was just an act. Rizzoli won't be back." He goaded.

Before Barry knew what he was doing, he body slammed Crow into the wall. Crow's breath escaped with a satisfying wheeze.

"You jerk, Jane's a better detective than you ever will be. Being jealous of someone in a coma is pathetic Crowe." Barry spat.

Crowe stood up to full height taking a menacing step towards Frost. "I'm going to have your badge." Crowe spat, oblivious to the threatening glares he was getting.

"Get out of here Crowe." Someone pulled the taller Detective from the room. Frost barely saw him leave through the red he was seeing.

"Ahhh!" He yelled, sending papers on the nearest desk flying.

"Barry." Korsak warned stepping closer. With wild, unseeing eyes, Barry turned slamming his fist into the nearest wall. Pain shot up his arms as bones broke but the pain was nothing like what he felt in his heart.

RI RI RI RI RI RI

_Jane smirked from the kitchen while she chopped an onion. Tommy and Maura were locked in a game of chess on the dining room table. Maura was getting better at it but deep down she knew Tommy was letting her think she was winning._

_Her stomach growled as she added the onion to her sauté pan. Maura looked over at her with a smile at the sound._

_"Check."_

_"Your daddy is going to beat Auntie Maura again." Jane said in a sing-song voice to the baby a few feet away._

_"Is not." Maura called from across the room._

_"Just you wait." Jane reached out tickling the baby. TJ burst into giggles._

_"Mate." Tommy goaded._

_"Damn. How?"_

_"Language Maura." Jane chided while covering little TJ's ears. The baby giggled again. "Auntie Maura has a potty mouth when she loses at chess."_

_She leaned back, smiling contently, when Maura wrapped her arms around her waist. She blessed. A wonderful wife and supportive family, a nephew that lit up their world everyday, and good friends that stuck with them when life seemed bleak._

_Turning she whispered something in Maura's ear, trying not to burst out laughing when her wife's face scrunched up in concentration, replaying the latest chess battle in her mind._

_Now Maura looked like a fish caught on a hook standing there wide eyed and open mouthed. "How did you know?"_

_Jane took a step back. "Tommy's not the only Rizzoli with a beautiful mind," she whispered._

"Dr. Isles?" Maura's head jerked up from its position on the hospital bed next to Jane's leg. The chair screeched on the linoleum as she stood up. She could have sworn Jane was teasing her about chess. With sad realization she realized she had been dreaming again. She wasn't in her kitchen with Jane. Instead she was standing in Jane's hospital room.

"Maura?" Doreen, Jane's day nurse on the neuro floor, reached out and lightly touched the cashmeir covered arm of her patient's wife. In her 20 years of nursing it was rare to see a family member stay 24/7 for almost three weeks with their loved ones. But she wasn't surprised, Dr. Maura Isles had been a very passionate surgerical resident in her three years as a doctor at Mass Gen. Most of the doctors and nursing staff saw the blonde doctor as cold and impersonal but they hadn't observed the late night visits and soft words of comfort that Doreen saw. So no, she wasn't surprised in the least when Maura refused to leave her wife's side except to take a quick shower or grab some food to go from the cafeteria. If it weren't for the sunlight streaming in from the window in Jane's room, Maura wouldn't have seen any real sunlight in the 18 days since Jane's accident. Maura scrutinized the doctor's, nurses and therapist's interaction with Jane with utmost concern. Doreen didn't mind. Most family members cracked under the strain and stress of caring for a gravely injured family member. In the beginning families spent days at the hospital learning to care for their loved ones; after a time their visits became shorter and shorter, less and less. Not Maura. It was refreshing to Doreen.

"How's our girl doing today?" She asked after Maura seemed to shake off the daze she was in.

"Good." Maura placed Jane's hand on the pillow that her head had recently been laying on. She placed her hand on Jane's slightly curled fingers. "She's been arching her back some." It was mostly posturing that coma patients did but at this point Maura would take any movement from Jane.

"Any voluntary responses?" Doreen scribbled Jane's vitals in her chart before placing it back in the holder on the bed. She went over to the dry erase board and wrote her name down. Maura was sound asleep during shift change, so the little things that could wait, did.

Maura just shook her head no. She felt really old and tired but this was their life now. She hadn't been there enough for Jane the last year. Somewhere in the midst of her holding a grudge over Jane's head, she knew she was making a terrible mistake by pushing her wife away. But the last year was like a terrible train wreck. You know you should look away as your mind is screaming for you to look away but you can't. So you stand there numbly watching as your life crashes into a brick wall. But she promised Jane that she would be there in sickness and in health, in good times and bad. She hadn't done a piss poor job lately at fulfilling her vows to Jane but that was over. She was incredibly sad that it took a horrific car accident to snap her out of her self pity. Even if this was the life they had from now on, she had vowed to be there for Jane and nothing was ever going to make her leave Jane's side again.

Doreen moved to Jane's head, placing her hand on Jane's shoulder, she looked into Jane's half open eyes. "Jane, I need to suction your trach." Quickly she unhooked the tube going into the base of Jane's neck and placed the suctioning tube into the trachea.

Maura's eyes drifted from Jane to the monitors knowing that Jane was essentially suffocating while this essential process was happening. She let out a breath she was holding when the tubing was hooked back up and Jane's chest started rising and falling in rhythm to the ventilator.

Once she was sure that everything was working properly Maura went into the bathroom filling up a basin with warm water. Taking a deep breath to center herself and fighting back the tears that sprung to her eyes. God she hated seeing Jane so helpless. Maura jumped when Doreen's hand touched her arm. Without words, strength passed from Doreen to Maura. Doctors healed patients but it was often the unsung strength of the nurses that held families together. With a nod and watery, yet, grateful smile, she followed Doreen out of the bathroom.

"Sweetie, we need to bathe you." She whispered looking into her wife's unseeing eyes. Somewhere over the last week Jane had started opening her eyes but so far there was no indication that Jane was seeing anything. She made no attempt to follow or look at anyone. Maura knew that the posturing and open eyes were a good sign but deep down she was deathly terrified that Jane's brain sustained to much damage from the initial injury and subsequent seizure's during the very long and treacherous first few days while the doctors worked endlessly to stabilize her.

She nodded to Doreen who was pulling the curtain to give them privacy. Maura took the blue gloves from Doreen. They felt so natural on her hands yet so completely wrong. Very gently she took the tip of the wash cloth and wiped the dried crust from first Jane's right eye and eyelashes before doing the same to her left. Maura bit back the sigh that threatened to escape when Jane made no attempt to blink at something touching her eyes.

She glanced over at Doreen, who was removing the splint from Jane's right foot, and examining the skin closely. Pouring all her love into her hands, Maura gently cleaned her wife's face before moving down to her neck being careful of the tubing coming out of Jane's neck. With one hand she unfastened the trachea collar, holding the tube steady, she gently washed the skin. She discarded the washcloth for a soft towel, drying Jane's neck and fastening the collar back in place. Satisfied she hadn't dislodged anything, Maura picked up her wife's slack hand, examining it with a frown.

"Her foot and leg look good." Doreen spoke up from where she'd been washing Jane's leg. "I think this new splint is working better."

Maura nodded, walking over to her purse, pulling out nail clippers. "Yes. Callie made a good call." A few days ago Callie made the decision to change from the generic splint they were using on Jane's foot to keep her Achilles' tendon from atrophying to a custom designed splint. After all, Callie said, when it was time for Jane to stand on her own feet, she wanted Jane's feet in the best shape possible.

"Sweetie, I'm going to trim your nails. I know how you want them kept close." Maura told Jane with a smile, rembering the one and only time she tried to get Jane to paint her nails. _Homicide Detectives do not paint their nails. They keep them trimmed close and clean_. Jane had gruffed at her before leaning in close to Maura's ear. Maura felt the skin on her neck rise. Lazily her hand touched the spot Jane's slips teasingly grazed. _Besides_, she whispered, _I'd never live it down with the guys if I let you sweet talk me into painting my nails. _With that Jane had sauntered off. That was her Jane, always teasing her. Secretly Maura thought Jane took too much pleasure in making her squirm. Now though she would give anything to hear Jane's teasing voice. With a sigh she settled into the bedside chair taking Jane's thumb in her hand, she first massaged the digit before, gently stretching and moving the tight muscles. Finally she carefully picked up the trimmers and clipped Jane's nail. After several minutes of silently focusing on her task at hand, Maura finished.

Doreen was coming back in with an IV bag filled with a milky white substance. She left it on the counter. Silently Maura helped roll Jane onto her side. Doreen supported her casted left arm with a pillow. She quickly sponged and dried Jane's back but took longer to examine Jane's skin. Maura, meanwhile was watching Jane's face for any sign, any clue, that she could understand what was going on.

"Skin's a little tender on her left hip." Maura leaned over Jane too look at the spot Doreen had been examining intently. "I'll let Doctor Bailey know before rounds. Jane, we are going to keep you off this hip for awhile." Doreen always talked to her patients, telling them what was happening. Early in her career she had a patient thank her for it. She knew not all the patients could her, understand, or retain but it didn't matter to her. She would talk to all her patients just as if they were capable of responding back. And it made the family trust her more and that was key for everyone involved but especially the patient. With ease the two moved as a well oiled team placing pillows and bed rolls to support Jane.

"I'll let you finish up." Doreen hooked Jane's breakfast up to the feeding tube leading into her stomach, before leaving the room.

"Your mom, brother's and the guys are coming on Sunday for dinner and the Super Bowl. Doctor Shepherd finally relented to that many people in here at once." Maura told Jane as she gently cleaned Jane's chest and stomach before bringing the sheet over Jane. She grabbed Jane's Nana's afghan from the couch and covering her wife's thin form. Jane had always been lanky but now she was skin and bones and Maura wanted to make sure she stayed nice and toasty. She brought Jane's hand up to feel the material, before settling in to bore Jane with the latest subscription to Forensic Daily.

AN: Thank you for those that are sticking with Maura and Jane on their journey back to each other.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: And now for some calzona. Sofia's age has been changed a little to fit the needs of the story. Soon it will be revealed why Maura left to become a pathologist. Thanks for hanging in there.

Chapter Six

The first rays of sunlight broke through a crack in the heavy curtains of their bedroom. Arizona was sound asleep on her side, hands curled up under her chin, the corners of her mouth curled into a slight smile.

Since the accident sleep had been something of an elusive mystery; true rejuvinating sleep was always just at the edge of her grasp. Most nights she slept fitfully never really sinking into that deep deep healing sleep. Other nights she would just pass out into oblivion from shear exhaustion. The nights when sheer exhaustion claimed her were the worse. On those nights, nightmares gripped her, threatening to suffocate her. She'd wake up gasping for air, her hands frantically digging into her open femur trying to remove the bugs from a leg that no longer existed. Other nights wolves would sink their fangs into her leg, dragging her deeper into the woods away from the others who just stood by pointing their fingers at her mangled leg laughing. She'd wake up just as the wolves managed to rip her leg off completely dripping with sweat, tears silently streaming from her eyes.

As quietly as she could she would extract herself from the bed, grab her crutches and on a leg made of silly putty, she'd make her way into the guest bathroom. Only once she was securely locked into the safety of those four walls would she curl up into a ball and cry until she thought she couldn't possibly have any more tears. Somehow through all these restless nights, Callie slept like a log, never budging an inch as Arizona tossed and turned. For that Arizona was grateful, even though she knew it was pure exhaustion that made Callie so oblivious. It meant that she didn't have to deal with the questions and concern in her wife's eyes.

Callie watched from the doorway as Arizona slept. She knew about the nightmares and the long nights locked in the guest bathroom, but she had chosen, for Arizona's sake, to pretend like she didn't. Callie was pleasantly surprised to see Arizona sleeping so peacefully with a smile on her face. She longed to reach out and tuck her wife's blonde locks behind her ear; to wake her up with a gently kiss. They definitely weren't there yet. She'd just recently been invited back into their bed. Their marriage seemed more like walking on eggshells than sinking into quicksand now as they learned to live together again.

Leaving the door partially opened, she headed across the hall to Sofia's room. Their daughter seeing her Mami standing in the doorway, Sophia pulled herself up on wobbly legs and immediately started babbling.

"Shh. Mija. Mommy's sleeping." Sofia giggled, holding her arms up and bouncing in the crib. Callie settled her favorite girl on her hip and headed towards the kitchen. "Why don't we make mommy breakfast in bed?" She whispered. Sophie giggled grabbing a lock of her hair in her chubby fist. "I'll take that as a yes." She placed Sophia down in the middle of a pile of toys. At 14 months, Sophia was now standing but refusing to take any steps. Seeing that her daughter was content, she headed into the kitchen.

It was giggles that first woke Arizona. Cute baby giggles coming from nearby. It was the wonderful smell of french toast that finally pulled her from the peaceful haze she'd been drifting in.

Dark hair and eyes popped briefly over the edge of the bed before disappearing with a thunk. More giggling drifted up from the floor. Peering over the edge of the bed, Arizona made a silly face, causing Sophia to giggle and clap. Just as quickly, she pulled the cover over her head. The giggling stopped. Slowly she peaked an eye out causing giggles to erupt.

Callie stood in the doorway, the tray of breakfast food she was holding forgotten, watching Arizona play hide and seek with Sophia. Arizona had that 1000-watt, dimple popping smile on her face that had missing for so long. Quietly she backed out of the room not wanting to disturb Arizona's peace. In the past she would have crawled into the bed and wrapped her arms around her wife's waist. Today though, for the first time in a very long time, she was content to leave Arizona alone.

Callie sat the tray on the counter and went about washing the mess she made. Her thoughts were interrupted by shuffling sound and the metallic sound of a crutch. Confused she glanced back down the hallway. Arizona and Sophia were very slowly making their way down the hallway. Her daughter hand a firm grip on her wife's prosthetic leg with one hand and Arizona's left hand in her other. Arizona was leaning heavily on the single crutch as she first took a step with her right foot then very slowly shuffled the prosthetic forward keeping the artificial knee locked as to not pinch their daughter's delicate fingers. Sophia took a few wobbly steps forward to keep step.

Callie knew she was staring and couldn't stop the tears that were flowing down her face. Looking up with a hiccup her eyes locked with blue eyes. Callie saw a myriad of emotions in her wife's eyes, the smile from earlier slipping, from her face. "I... " she cleared her throat. "Those are her first steps." She stated needlessly. Arizona's dimples emerged for a second as Sophia bounced on her chubby legs.

"I smelled french toast." Arizona stated before shuffling forward again but Sophia was done with it and dropped to the floor, crawling over to her toys.

"Soph and I wanted to surprise you in bed." Realizing what she said, Callie cringed. "With, ah, em, breakfast in bed." She pointed helplessly at the abandoned tray.

"Oh..." Arizona seemed to blank out disappearing into her own thoughts like she'd been doing a lot lately. "Uh... do..." She moved over to the couch. Callie took the crutch back to the bedroom placing it next to its partner in the corner near Arizona nightstand. When she made it back to the living room, Arizona was picking at the food with her fork.

"I can make something else." She couldn't mask the disappointment in her voice.

Arizona's head shot up, seemingly surprised that she wasn't alone. "No... This is fine." She made a show of eating a bite. "Do you think we could, uh, take advantage of the Super Bowl sales and get..." Her voice trailed off sounding childlike even to her own ears. "We need a table. It's just hard... counter height and balance... If we had a table we could eat as a... family." She gushed out dropping her gaze to the floor.

Callie was shocked. She hadn't thought about the counter. She settled into the couch next to Arizona. Her wife's eyes were averted. Slowly, unsure if she was going to set Arizona's temper off, she lifted Arizona's chin until their eyes met. "No problem. I'd like that... a lot."

"Okay." Arizona gave a watery smile.

"Zo?" Sophia had crawled over to the couch and Callie picked her up. Arizona was stroking the blond locks slowly.

"I'm trying Callie." It was whispered, eyes locked back on the floor.

Callie wanted to reach out and take her wife into her arms but now wasn't the time. Instead she smiled at her wife.


	7. Chapter 7

Maura watched the group of interns and residents enter Jane's room. Mass General was a teaching hospital and she'd done plenty of morning rounds in her day. Now that she wasn't the doctor but the family of a patient, she absolutely hated it. She really didn't know how much Jane could hear or comprehend and she would rather talk about Jane's medical status elsewhere but that wasn't how it was done. Maura moved over to a corner of the room slightly behind the group but with a clear view of her wife.

"Dr. Ross." Derek nodded at him.

"36 year old, female, victim of a motor vehicle accident on January 2nd. Compressed skull fracture with multiple hemotomas and hemeroging in both lobes. Patient suffered four post-injury seizures. Underwent emergency surgery approximately four hours after initial injury. Currently 21 days post-op to replace malfunctioning shunt and secondary aneurysm. Patient seizure free since shunt replacement. Shunt free of intercranial fluid and blood for 36 hours, patient having brief moments of breathing over ventilator. ICP stabilized and lessening." Ross looked at his mentor expectantly.

"Very good." Derek held out his penlight to his intern. Behind him Maura sucked in a breath. Ross heard it and started to protest but was cut off. "Okay Ross. Run through the neurological exam."

He stepped up to his patient remembering that the blonde bombshell that never left his patient's side hated when people talked like Jane wasn't there. She only tolerated it during rounds.

He placed a reassuring hand on Jane's shoulder. "Jane, I'm Dr. Ross. You're in the hospital. I need to do a quick exam. Is that okay?" He waited a reasonable amount of time like he'd been taught in school.

"Jane can you open your eyes?"

It was these morning rounds that made Maura feel like nothing was getting better and it threatened to break that last thread she was clinging to.

Ross opened her left eye flashing the light across it. Then repeated with the right. He looked up at Derek feeling real disappointment. Doctor's always have that one case that sticks with them forever. Sometimes that case ends badly, and sometimes it has the perfect ended. Most doctors couldn't even pinpoint when the case went from being a set of symptoms to an emotional invested individual. He really wished the injured detective would end happily. She had become his special case.

Taking a deep, calming, breathe he picked up her right hand.

"You're doing great Jane. Can you squeeze my hand?" He stilled his own breathing, letting the hum of a working hospital fade, willing his own hands to register even the slightest of pressure changes. "Can you move a finger for me?"

"Anything?"

He glanced at Derek before turning to Maura. "No ma'am." Something flickered in her eyes before that careful control he was used to settled back in. She released a breath.

Turning back to Jane he said a quick prayer. "Just one more test Jane.. Can you feel this?" He pinched her nail bed.

Maura jumped when Jane jerked her hand away pulling it tight to her chest, her back arched off the bed. Jane's her eyes partway opened, before closing again. A murmur broke out from the interns. Bailey quickly shushed them with a glare.

Maura took a step closer, moving past the interns when Derek took the penlight back from Ross. Janes eyelids fluttered just a crack. "Follow the light Jane." After a moment her eyelids stilled.

"Jane? Open your eyes." Nothing. He gently took her balled fist applying some pressure to open the hand. It wouldn't budge still clenched to her chest. "You rest now Jane." He readjusted the blanket around her.

Bailey took control of the interns and led them from the room. Maura already knew the answer and scrubbed her hand over her face but she had to ask. "Now what?"

Derek reached out to touch her arm. "We give her more time. We wait. We keep doing what we are doing. Pain stimuli is often the first sense to come back."

Maura watched him walk out before settling down in the chair again. She placed her hand against Jane's side instantly missing having her wife's hand in hers. Jane's back was still arched from the bed. She took a long look at Jane's face, feeling an exhaustion like no other settle deep into the marrow of her bones, it remained blank, eyes lightly shut as if she was sleeping. Finally Maura relaxed, satisfied this was just normal posturing that coma patients did and Jane was not in any real pain.

"You did amazing Janie." Maura whispered, feeling tears and hearing the pride in her voice. "You did amazing."

45 minutes after being page by Derek with Jane's morning update, Callie entered her room. Maura was sound asleep, hand resting on Jane's stomach, her head on the bed next to Jane's thigh. That had to be uncomfortable.

"I heard you are being a badass today Detective." Callie told Jane, taking in her positioning. She reached out and placed a hand on Jane's forehead. "You can't be comfortable either. You are tensing Jane. Try to relax your muscles." Callie touched Jane's right arm feeling the taught muscles flexed underneath her hand.

"She's been like that for awhile now." Maura stood up stretching her aching back. Sleeping for almost a month in hard hospital chairs was starting to really take its toll on her body. She felt like a year with a chiropractor wouldn't be enough to straighten her back out and then she glanced at Jane and was instantly reminded why her back hurt. She silently chastised herself for even dwelling on her own discomfort.

She helped Callie position pillows to support Jane. An orderly entered the room giving her a gentle squeeze on the shoulder.

"Are you taking her somewhere?"

Callie looked like she ate the Cheshire cat. "X-ray and MRI. I think it's time for these," she tapped Jane's casted leg and arm lightly, "to come off. I want one last scan to be sure. And you my dear Maura have a meeting to go to." Callie grabbed her purse as she led Maura to the door. "Scram. Badass and I have a date."

With that she was effectively tossed out of Jane's room for the first time in almost a month. Leave it to Callie and Jane to conspire together like that. Maura bit back a half sob half chuckle and headed for her car.

xxxxxxxxx

"Thank you for joining us today." Cav gave a sincere smile to his Medical Examiner. She looked beyond tired. They all felt tired but she looked exhausted. She was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a soft sweater. It seemed out of place on the normally impeccably dressed woman.

"Sure." Maura glanced at her watch wanting to be anywhere but in the conference room at headquarters with the whole BRIC outside speculating.

"The petition for disability has been approved," Sandra from human resources handed over a letter. Maura glanced it over. She really didn't care at this point. "Right now she's approved at short-term 100%. We will reevalute the situation periodically." Sandra was good at her job but she also hated this aspect of her job. "Dr. Isles?" She waited until the short blonde looked up with guarded eyes. "I'm truly sorry. Detective Rizzoli is an amazing police officer."

Maura nodded acknowledging the respect that Jane just received. "I don't have any questions. If I do, I'll be in touch." Sandra knew when she was being dismissed and wisely left the room. Out of the corner of her eyes, Maura saw the BRIC ground to a halt.

"It's like a freak show." Maura bit out, through clenched teeth, as the door shut.

"Everyone is concerned for Jane and you. How are you holding up?" Cav had real concern in his eyes. It made Maura want to flee. She just wanted the world to right itself again.

"I need more time off. Unpaid leave is fine." Even as she said it, Lt. Cavanaugh was already shaking his head no.

"We can't Dr. Isles. Pike is an idiot. We've already had two case thrown out due to his careless mistakes. That's two murderers walking free. Jane wouldn't want that."

Maura stood up so fast the chair turned over with a loud bang. How dare he? "You don't get to use Jane like that." She ground out.

"Jane needs me. She..." Maura bit down on her lip desperate to keep from crying. If she started, there would be no stopping. She turned haunted eyes on him.

"Do you remember what you said when you interviewed for this position. I sat in on that interview." Maura looked stunned. She couldn't focus. She just wanted to get back to Jane. "When you were asked why a fourth year surgical resident would just abandon everything she worked for to change careers, do you remember what you said?"

Maura leaned back against the wall, remembering those torturous months that lead her to where she was now.

"I want to give justice to those that can't speak, can't tell us what happened, can't tell us who violated them. By giving a voice to the voiceless I can give families some peace." Maura whispered.

_It had been a really long week. It was clear to the senior residents that her passion and real skill was in neuro so they'd been grooming her. But that late Friday evening she'd chosen to pick up a shift in the ER, to brush up on her trauma skills, instead of going to Joe's or the Dirty Robber and getting drunk with the other residents. Fourth year was coming to the end. People were letting loose and celebrating being one year closer to attending status. But that wasn't Maura Isles. She wasn't interested in getting drunk every chance she had or the 'as the world turns' drama that seemed to suck her co-workers in. She was more interested in the regenerative techniques for dying brain cells than binge drinking and killing her own brain cells._

_So after a really long week of research and brain surgeries, Maura found herself in an almost empty ER. She'd just settled outside in the ambulance bay to relax when it happened. Every doctor has that one case that they will remember for the rest of their lives._

_The first thing Maura saw when the ambulance doors burst open was blood. Blood was everywhere. The floor of the ambulance was a sea of red. She had patients almost bleed out before but this was so much worse. Blood dripped from the gurney combining rapidly with the lake on the floor. The EMT's and a very young female cop were coated in it._

_"What do we have?" She called out, pulling herself together, as the gurney was pulled from the rig._

_"Female, can't tell the age. Massive face and head trauma with obvious cranial deformation. Both pupils blown."_

_"Ma'am, you can let go." Maura started to move where the police officer was keeping up with the gurney._

_"Can't." A very gravely voice underneath the blood spoke calmly._

_"Carotid artery blew in the rig. Officer... Uh I didn't get your name." The EMT glanced up._

_"Rizzoli."_

_"Officer Rizzoli here has very quick hands."_

_They burst through the doors scattering bored interns._

_"Page Doctor's Shepherd and Sloan and whatever you do don't release pressure." Maura called out. "Get the IV's up and push O' neg." Nurses were scrambling all around hanging bags. "Pulse is thready."_

_"Can't get this in." Maura grabbed the endoscope light from one of the trauma residents. "Throat is closing up fast."_

_"Her veins are blown." The nurse to her right spoke up. Maura glanced over, both hands were covered in gauze like most of her face and head._

_"Okay." Maura. "Let's do a subclavian line and emergency tracheostomy. Did someone page Shepherd and Sloan? Get an OR ready." As she was barking orders, she already had the trachea open and the airway secured._

_"On their way."_

_Maura took a deep breath looking at the officer. "Are you injured?" She didn't know her patients circumstances but with so much blood everywhere she didn't want to let anyone or anything slip through the crack._

_"Uh." Rizzoli was shaking her head no. "It's all hers."_

_"Okay." Maura finally got the line in. "Are you good? I don't want to risk releasing pressure yet."_

_"I'm good."_

_"Okay. Let's get her to the OR. Call ahead and get CT and XRay. We can asses those there. Let's move people."_

_Maura had no clue standing in that trauma room that this case would be the one that literally changed the course of her life. X-ray showed that most of Jane Doe's face was pulverized with underlying boney structures crushed. Doctor Sloan tried his best to repair but enough damage had been done that when Jane Doe woke up she would never look the same. He ended up working with Boston Police specialist to digitally create Jane Doe's face so they could try to figure out who she was but no one ever stepped forward. Her finger tips had been amputated so there was no way of matching her in any databases._

_Jane Doe wasn't expected to live through the night but she held on for months in a coma. A woman with no face, no identity and no loved ones to claim her. Unknowingly Doctor Isles became her family. She didn't even realize at first that she was spending her nights and days off camped in Jane Doe's room until Chief Webber and Dr. Shepherd had an intervention forcing her away from the room. Jane Doe stayed alive for four months before her heart grew too weak. Maura was taking her vitals when they bottomed out. It took Dr. Shepherd pulling her from the room, the code blue siren mocking her, to final give in and admit that Jane Doe had died, alone out in the cold Boston night before she ever entered her Emergency Room doors._

_Doctor Maura Isles lost herself in a bottle of bourbon that night. The next night she chose whiskey. A week after Jane Doe's death shattered her world, Doctor Maura Isles walked through the halls of the hospital once again, her white lab coat resting over her arm. She found Chief Weber in his office with Doctor Shepherd. By the guilty looks on their faces, she knew who the topic of conversation was. Before either man could react, she gently placed her coat on Weber's desk and walked out._

"Maura." Cav's surprisingly gentle voice pulled her back into the present. "Jane became a detective that night. She was on a mission after that to earn her gold badge. Do you think she would want you to up and quit?" He guided her back to the chair. "Remember why you became a medical examiner."

Maura you shook her head no. "Jane's in there. I know she is but she... Jane is the voiceless now. I can't be here doing this knowing she's where she is." Maura's shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Jane gave her life to this job. Her body maybe alive but..." She was shaking her head helplessly lost in the medical knowledge she knew. "Jane's never going to be a police officer again. Even if she woke up tomorrow. She's going to have months, years of therapy. And even then any blow to the head could kill her. You know Jane doesn't do things anyway but all out." She paused letting him take that in. By the look on his face she could tell he was shocked.

"Your asking me to chose between my job and Jane and it's always going to be Jane. So either figure out another way for me to do my job or I'll have my resignation to you." Maura glanced at her watch again. She'd been gone to long.

Out in the BRIC Korsak kept one eye on the doorway and one eye halfheartedly on the file in front of him. Maura and Jane were like daughters to him. When they hurt, he hurt. There'd been too much hurt recently. Just when he felt like Maura and his LT would never emerge the door opened and Maura headed straight for the elevator. Cavanaugh came out, his shoulders slumped. He stopped for a minute at Jane's desk before calling Frost into his office. Just before he shut the door completely he looked up, catching Korsak's eye.

"Pack up Detective Rizzoli's desk Korsak. I don't want Maura or Frankie to do it." His voice was hollow. If the BRIC wasn't dead silent, he would never have heard the barely whispered words. Words that shattered the heart of Boston Homicide.


	8. Chapter 8

Callie stood in the neuro wing, looking over Jane's chart, waiting for Derek to finish up with her friend and bring her back up from her MRI.

In the two hours that Maura was gone, Jane had gone through an impressive amount of tests. First stop was X-Ray and getting the casts off. Then she was carted off to the cardio wing for a few tests and now Derek had her down for an MRI.

The patient elevators dinged and the top of Derek's black head was the first thing she saw. He was looking down at Jane. He glanced up, flashing his million dollar smile.

"Is Doctor Isles back?" Callie just shook her head no, wondering what he was smiling about.

He turned toward Doreen. "Let's get Jane moved to Room 2714." He spoke to her obviously pleased. Turning to Callie, he motioned her to follow the bed. 2714 was a large corner room. More importantly it meant Jane was stable enough to be moved from the ICU to a regular room. "MRI looks good. Shunt will come out this evening."

The nurses were busy settling Jane in to her new room, changing over from the portable vent to the room vent, hooking up the heart monitor. Callie, in Maura's absence kept a close eye on the happening in the center of the room, but followed Derek to the corner closest to the door.

"If you sign off on, I'd like to up her therapy, start to get her upright." Derek stated, making notes in the chart.

She pulled herself from watching the five nurses it took to move Jane from one hospital bed to the other.

"Jane's set. The fractures look good. I'll get with PT to establish a plan." The nurses were done fussing over Jane and she settled next to Jane's new bed. Unwillingly tears sprang into her eyes. She'd already lost Mark to a coma, and now that Jane was in a regular room, she realized that Jane was very much alive but yet she wasn't. Callie felt like she'd lost both of her friends. She needed Jane to lay it out on the line, let her know just what to say to Arizona. Jane was no nonsense like that.

"Well badass..." Callie picked up Jane's left hand and gently squeezed it. "How did we come up with the name badass anyway?" Callie was drawn into the memory of two middle schoolers sneaking into the Sister's lounge, replacing Sister Winifred's not so secret stash of Twinkie's with their special toothpaste filled Twinkie's. They'd endured a month's worth of scrubbing the school's cafeteria with toothbrush's and twice daily confessions. And they did it all with a huge smile on their face and thus earned the nickname badass 1 and 2 from their classmates. No one went against Sister Winifred except them.

"The look on her face was worth it." Callie trailed off. "Zona and I are going table shopping later and I'm scared. She blames me. She doesn't say it but it's in her eyes."

Callie watched Jane for any reaction but her best friends eyes were closed. In a way it was easier to talk to Jane with her eyes close instead of the half open blank stare. It was unnerving to see the unseeing gaze and the fear that this was all of Jane they would be getting back was too upsetting. Jane was full of life and full of sarcasm but this silent Jane was not the friend she grew up with.

"I had to make an impossible decision Jane." She could hear the pleading in her voice. "Yeah I know, as a doctor she should know we were stuck against a rock and a ticking time bomb. But all she knows is that I hurt her. I didn't do it on purpose and I'd gladly have given my leg if it would have saved her. God Jane. I just want to turn back time. I would have went with her to Boise... Maybe I could have done more."

Callie had her back to the door but couldn't miss the gasp. Turning she saw a shocked Arizona with Sofia on her hip. Arizona looked like she wanted to flee but stood rooted to the spot, tears in her blue eyes.

"I-I know you hate me." Callie stuttered.

Arizona was shaking her head no, drawing strength from the squirming toddler in her arms. "I hate this situation." She locked her eyes on Jane's unmoving face. Lexi had died out in the woods and she never got to see Mark after the rescue crew pulled him from her lap. He was hanging on to consciousness by a thread. She never saw him in the coma. She was too sick fighting the infection and then too shocked about her leg to see Mark. In less than a year Callie had lost both her closest friends.

It hit Arizona like a ton of bricks and she staggered over to the couch with a whimper. She was being so selfish. Mark and Lexie lost their lives. Jane was not much better off at this point. She was alive, she could perform surgeries, she could hold her daughter and laugh with her wife. And yet, Arizona was being selfish.

"I don't hate you." She whispered tightening her hold on Sophia. "I hate me."

The chair squeaked loudly in the room. Brown eyes met blue. It felt like all the oxygen had been sucked from the room.

Callie opened her mouth, cleared her throat, and stared at Arizona. Arizona looked down squirming under wife's gaze. With a pathetic shrug she locked eyes with her wife. She felt tired. She felt the weight of the last year settle on her shoulders and in her residual limb. And just like that, she knew she didn't hate anyone but herself.

Callie's eyes caught hers. "Why?"

"I... Just do."

Callie placed Jane's hand back on the pillow and slowly moved over to the couch. Arizona still looked like she wanted to flee.

"You shouldn't." It was stated so simply Arizona snorted at Callie.

"You should hate me too."

Now it was Callie's turn to shake her head no. "I don't hate you and you have every right to be a little Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde lately. But Zona you are alive. You're alive."

Callie expected Arizona to get mad and storm out but instead her wife was just starring at her. Slowly she reached out and tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her wife's ear. Now Callie was nervous.

"Zona say something." She pleaded.

Arizona tugged her sleeping daughter closer, settled back against the couch.

"Did you call me Jekyll and Hyde?" She tried to keep a straight face but burst out laughing instead. Some of the nurses in the hallway glanced up with a frown and she laughed harder. It was like she was back in the woods trying to gain control of her senses.

Callie looked so flabbergasted Arizona's laughing turned to tears then sobs.

Maura came to a halt in the doorway to Jane's new room. Arizona and Callie were huddled together on the couch sobbing their eyes out. Sophia looked scared but stayed silent smushed between her two moms.

Maura felt the air leave her lungs, the panic that always was just below the surface, knocked her back a step. Suddenly Doreen's was guiding her from the room and over to the nurses desk and pushing her into a chair.

"Jane is fine. Doing great actually." Maura looked confused but took her time looking through Jane's chart. Jane was indeed doing great. She was moving her left arm now that the cast was gone. She'd even squeezed Doctor Shepherd's hand at one point.

"They've been like that for awhile." Doreen explained. "I need to check Jane's vitals and reposition her but..." The nurse trailed off. "Pre-op will be here soon. Shunt is coming out today." Maura really smiled at that, before heading towards Jane's room.

Callie was the first one to look up and awkwardly wiped at her tear streaked face. With a small nod Maura moved over to the bed. Doreen followed her in closing the privacy curtain to give both Jane and Callie and Arizona space.

"Zona." Callie whispered. "Maura's here. We need to go." She gently tugged on her wife's hand, slightly surprised when Arizona didn't protest and let her guide her from the room.


	9. Chapter 9

The morning of Super Bowl Sunday came way to early for Maura Isles. She'd spent most of the night starring at the monitors charting Jane's vitals. Something was making her skin crawl, and so she forced herself to stay awake when her body was begging for sleep.

In the ICU nurses were constantly in and out. The pace was slower on the regular floor. That was a good thing. It meant that Jane was stabilizing, not yet out of the woods but getting there. It also meant that Maura had way to much time to think.

For a mind as sharp as Maura's, her thoughts felt like they were struggling through quick sand. Somewhere deep inside Maura knew she needed to start taking care of herself before she became sick and then she really would be useless to Jane.

31 days had passed. It was 31 days longer than Jane should have lived. In her time as an intern and resident, she had seen patients succumb to far less severe injuries than Jane's. 31 days since Maura had shot Jane down with a cold shoulder. 31 days of waiting and praying that Jane would come around so she could beg Jane to forgive her for being a jerk and an idiot. It had been a very long 31 days indeed.

Maura's mind drifted to the future. How long would Jane stay in the hospital? She was definitely stabilizing. And soon plans would be made for her to be moved to a rehab facility.

Yesterday, a social worker stopped by to discuss options for Jane's care. Maura knew this was protocol, to look toward the future and make plans, but inside her very heart something refused to believe this was their future.

It was a very heated discussion. The tension and anxiety that had been building inside Maura ever since the day that Vince Korsak and Lieutenant Cavanaugh rolled up to her driveway with life altering news, burst forth shocking the group of doctors and staff inside Jane's hospital room.

"At least in the near future Jane is going to need 24/7 care." The social worker started, sending a glance Derek's way. Maura knew that look. The look that said near future would be the rest of Jane's life. Jane's heart was strong. Very strong. She could live a very long time on a ventilator and feeding tube.

"We need to discuss the probability of moving Jane to a skilled care facility." The social worker continued on, oblivious to growing furry inside the shorter woman. "There are several very well reputable facilities within 10 miles..."

"No!" The word burst out loudly startling the older lady into silence. "Jane is not living in a nursing home." Laughter bubbled forth at the absurdity of her detective living in a nursing home.

The social worker looked between Derek and Maura, trying to figure out why this stoic woman standing in front of her was cracking up. Horrible, slightly manic, laughter filling the room, competing with the beeps and hissing of the life support attached to the comatose patient across the room.

"Dr. Isles, insurance will pay for rehab as long as Jane is making some improvement every week but after that Medicare and Medicaid will kick in and Jane will need to be moved to a nursing..."

"Get out!" The venom in Maura's voice was enough to cause the social worker to take a step back and raise her hand to her chest.

Somewhere deep inside herself, Maura knew she should apologize, she just couldn't bring herself to even begin to care.

"Okay." Derek held his hands up. "Laura, we have time to discuss this later." He motioned to the door. The social worker, with one very scathing glance at Maura, escaped the hostility in room 2714.

"Maura." Derek was approaching her slowly, his hands out stretched in a peace offering of sorts.

"She's not going into a nursing home." Maura ground out, moving over to Jane's side.

He just nodding in understanding. If this was Meredith he wouldn't want that either.

Maura seemed to calm down then. "She's getting better." She said uselessly.

"She's definitely stabilizing." Derek flipped through Jane's chart. "ICP is stable without the shunt." That was great news. Celebratory news in fact.

"She moved her hand last night and Doreen said she squeezed her hand."

Derek flipped back through the chart. Involuntary reflex. He moved over to the printout of Jane's brainwaves. There was definitely more spikes in the activity but it was still very random.

He watched his patient closely, while keeping an eye on the monitor. Jane's eyes were half opened as they often were between 9 am and 2 pm. He flashed his pen light in each eye. Nothing on the monitor changed. He squeezed her left hand. Nothing changed. He really didn't want to snuff out Maura's hope.

He rubbed his fisted knuckles hard across Jane's sternum. Jane immediately arched on the bed, the monitor spiking before settling down. Maura had an 'I told you so look' on her face.

He picked up Jane's left hand. "Jane can you hear us? Squeeze my hand."

Maura wasn't the only person in the room holding their breath waiting for even the slightest change. Finally the need for oxygen forced him to suck in a ragged breath when the monitor didn't change.

"Maura." She had her eyes locked on the screen. She gasped. There, nearly a minute after his request, was the shift in brain activity before it settled back to the previous levels.

Derek rubbed his chin with his pen light, deep in thought. Maura starred into the glassy eyes of her wife, willing clarity into them. Clarity didn't come.

"It's a good sign." Derek began. "But..."

Maura snapped her vision away from Jane. She'd heared this hundreds of times under Derek's training. "I know. We have a long way to go and..." She trailed off unable to voice it. The proverbial it that was always in the back of her mind. When Jane woke up from this coma, how much function would she have?

Angela voiced it a few days ago when she walked into the new hospital room just as Bailey examined the bed sore on Jane's hip. The gasp that left her mouth startled the two women who were starring intently at the angry looking red spot. Angela tried to get to the hospital as much as possible but she really needed to be at her job. Money was really tight. It was a tough situation that she felt extremely guilty about.

"It's a bed sore Angela. It's under control." Maura started but noticed her mother-in-law's eyes were focused on Jane's face.

Confused, Maura looked closely at Jane and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

"Janie's awake?" Angela whispered.

Then Maura realized Jane's eyes were open. That was a recently new development, within the last week, but Maura was already used to it.

"No." Angela's face scrunched, confusion written clearly in the tired lines of the older woman's forehead. Belatedly Maura realized this was the first time Angela was in the room when Jane had her eyes open.

With a glance at Bailey, Maura led the elder Rizzoli down the hallway to one of the empty family rest lounge.

"She's not awake?" It was a heart breaking question, spoken softly almost af is uttering the words would crumble the very resolve holding Angela upright.

"No. It's a muscle reflex." Maura patted Angela's hand reassuringly. "But it is a very good sign." After weeks of no movement and being maintained solely by life support, this week was turning out to be a week of quick moving milestones. First Jane opened her eyes, the she responded to pain stimuli and now she was periodically flexing her left hand and leg.

Family members often thought a loved one waking from a coma would be just like the movies or fiction; one minute they were asleep and the next they were bouncing out of bed cracking jokes.

As a doctor, Maura hated Hollywood for sensationalizing the reality of the medical community.

"Is Jane going to ever wake up completely?" Angela asked with surprising strength and clarity in her voice. "I need you to be honest with me Maura. I can't stand to see my daughter so helpless but..." Angela shook her head then. When she looked up Maura saw only strength and a mother's sincere love that would do anything for her daughter. "I need to know so that I can help my Janie."

Maura sat down heavily. This was hard as a doctor but even harder as a doctor who happened to be a loved one. "The truth is Angela that I just don't know." She held up a hand to stop the older woman's reply. "Jane sustained a severe brain injury and the seizure's caused further damage. As a wife I believe Jane will wake up... more than she currently is. But as a doctor, I know that even if she wakes up more she might not have much functioning."

Angela's face scrunched up in confusion again. "What do you mean?"

In retrospect for Maura to answer that question meant that she was finally voicing the concern that had been flittering annoyingly around her mind like some drunk butterfly for the last 30 some days. Maura nearly cracked at the image of a drunk butterfly. Jane would have made some wise crack then.

"Maura are you okay?" Angela's concern brought her back the giant elephant in the room.

"Hmm? Oh." She blushed then. "It really is a question Angela and one that can't fully be answered in advanced. At the very least Jane's personality could be changed but most likely she's going to have to learn do to everything again; walk, eat, maybe talk. The brain is very tricky and Jane could be almost like newborn needing to relearn everything or she could be just very weak." Maura definitely didn't think the later would be the case, especially with as many brain injuries as she treated in her short time as a resident at this very hospital. But as much as she wanted to lay it all out on the line for Angela, reality was that she just didn't know.

"I think that we should prepare for the worst but hope for the best and always remain positive around Jane. We really don't understand what a coma patient retains or understands about what is going on around them." There, that was easier than she thought. A coma patient... Not Jane but a coma patient. If she could separate the two on her mind then, Maura could become the doctor and not the wife.

Angela was nodding at her and chewing on her lip. "I just need to know one thing Maura?" This wasn't a question she would normally ask but the last 365 days had changed a lot of things for everyone in Jane and Maura's life. Never would she thought her two girls would be at each other's throats. Never would she have thought her two girls, who fell in love with each other from day one, would hurl harmful words at each other to cover up the fact that they were both scared crazy. Never would Angela have thought she'd be sitting in a hospital about to ask her daughter-in-law the question she was about to.

Angela squeezed Maura's hand. "I think I know the answer but I have to ask any." At Maura's hesitant nod she continued, "If Janie doesn't get any better than this... even if she does but still needs constant care... or if she never gets back to the Janie we all know and love... I need to know Maura, that you do right by my Janie."

Maura gasped and looked like she'd been slapped. She knew she deserved it. "I love Jane and I've been an idiot." Maura looked Angela straight in the eye. "I'm never ever EVER leaving Jane... No matter what the future holds."

Both women broke down then, leaning heavily into the other, drawing strength from the other. After a few minutes of quiet sniffling Angela stood up, moving to Jane's room.

That was just the other day but already in less than 24 hours, Maura felt stronger and more capable of weathering this storm.

Frankie arrived first just as Doreen was checking Jane's temperature. She showed the reading to Maura and went over to the thermostat adjusting the temperature in the room.

"Hey sis." Frankie planted a kiss on Jane's cheek before hugging Maura. Just then Doreen came back with a blanket and sheets. "What's going on?" Maura and Doreen were pulling all the sheets and from over Jane. He took a step back wanting to give his sister privacy. Maura shot him an appreciative look as she worked to adjust the pressure sleeves on Jane's legs.

"She's not controlling her temperature very well this afternoon so we are helping her out with warm blankets and sheets." Doreen spoke as they covered Jane up to her neck with the blanket." She turned toward Maura. "I'll be back in a little bit to check up. Try to enjoy your evening."

"Should we be worried?" Frankly finally forced out as the door shut behind the nurse. He didn't really understand all this but Maura did. According to Maura, Jane was making great improvements this week. He couldn't see it but he would remain positive for his sister and sister-in-law.

"No. It's normal." Maura glanced out the window. It was still snowing and Super Bowl Sunday was turning into a bitterly cold day.

"Ahh, Ma will be hear soon. She wanted to stop by the Chapel." Frankie deposited two large bags of supplies on the couch.

"Hey Janie. I've heard you've had a big week. Ma's practically beaming that she got Maura to wear a football jersey." He took in his sister-in-law. She had dark circles under her eyes and he couldn't tell if it was the Patriots jersey she was wearing or if she was losing weight. He suspected the second.

Tommy showed up next.

"Nice outfit Maura." He teased. She was in a pair of designer jeans and a Tom Brady jersey, her hair was pulled back. She was currently exercising Jane's right hand.

"For Jane." Maura said simply. It wasn't right that her sports crazy wife had to wear a hospital gown on Super Bowl Sunday. So she set aside her reservations on how frumpy the jersey was and wore it for Jane.

Tommy moved in and kissed his older sis' cheek again.

"Where's Lydia?" The Rizzoli's were trying to brace Tommy's very pregnant girlfriend. 'Trying to' being the key word. It was no secret they felt that she was just using Tommy and doubted the child she carried was even a Rizzoli. But Tommy cared for her. Tommy seemed happy with her. And so for the sake of peace in the Rizzoli family, they were trying. With time the ditzy blonde was growing on them and becoming a true family member.

Maura knew that Tommy was planning on proposing. He spent many nights playing chess with Maura while Jane watched from the kitchen, a knowing smirk on her face. Tommy tended to babble when he played chess and one evening he jus blurted out that he wanted to ask Lydia to marry him but was afraid of screwing up again. In the end it was Jane who convinced her younger brother that he would make a great husband and father. As far as Maura knew the proposal hadn't happened yet.

"She's at her Ma's." Tommy set more bags on the couch. Frankie grunted as he moved off to decorate the corner of the room; hanging a few silver and black streamers from the bathroom door.

Lydia may have worked her way into the Rizzoli family but Lydia's mother. Well, there wasn't a person on earth that liked that woman.

"Can it Frankie."

Maura sent the guys a look. Yep, it was Super Bowl Sunday with the Rizzoli's.

"The eagles don't have a chance this year, Janie." Frankie spoke from the corner.

Now Tommy grunted from his spot next to Jane's bed. He was setting up the chess game that inevitably he, Jane and Maura would be playing.

"Don't get cocky, Tommy." Maura motioned to the board. "Tonight I'm slipping that grin off your face."

Now Tommy let lose with a guffaw. "Doc, is that an attempt at trash talking?" He leaned towards Jane, whispering in her ear. "Janie you better wake up or Maur is going to give you a run for your money on the trash talking. She thinks she can beat me at chess." He glanced up at Maura. She looked happy.

An hour later the room turned into a normal Rizzoli family sports Sunday. Several conversations were going on as the first half started. Tommy and Maura were engaged in the first game of chess while eating Angela's gnocchi. Maura had her back to the TV, facing Jane in one of the many visitor chairs that had been brought into the room. Tommy was facing the TV, only half paying attention to the game but yet still beating her.

Frankie, Korsak, and Angela sat on the large couch watching the game. Banter flew around he room at surprising speed. Jane, was 'awake'. Maura had her positioned to see the chess match.

Jane loved to stand in the kitchen just watching the her wife and brother at it in endless matches of chess. Tommy toying with Maura, letting her think she was winning and then crushing her at the end. Jane would just stand there sipping a beer with a knowing smile on her face.

Tommy moved a piece. Maura groaned. The Patriots scored quickly. Frankie laughed and elbowed Frost in the ribs.

Maura picked up Jane's hand guiding it to the chess board. She was surprised her wife's eyes were still open this late in the day.

"What move should we make Jane?" She started to move Jane's hand toward the piece she wanted to move. This was a perfect time to do therapy for Jane.

The gasp that left her throat stopped all movement and noise in the room. The resistance of Jane's hand against hers was definitely there.

"Jane?" She stood up quickly, the chair making an awful noise in the silent room as it scratched the tiles. "Sweetie?" Angela appeared on Jane's other side and was stroking the peach fuzz on her daughters head.

"Maura?" Tommy whispered. She was standing there wide eyed and looking between the monitors and Jane.

"Sweetie can you hear us?" Tears of joy fell from her eyes. Jane grimaced. It was the first facial expression Jane made. "You can hear us." It was slight, the twinge in the fingers she held was very slight but there.

"Maura?" Doreen stood in the doorway. She'd been sitting at the nurses desk across from Jane's room when the low noise in the room suddenly stopped and everyone huddled around her favorite patient's bed.

"I asked her if she could hear me and she squeezed she responded."

**AN: Feedback is greatly appreciated. What would you like to see? Where would you like to see the story go?**


	10. Chapter 10 - Updated

Disclaimer: Rizzoli & Isles belongs to the wonderful people at TNT. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thank you all for being patient with me! I think I might be over the writer's block.

My heart goes out to the family, friends and co-workers of Lee Thompson Young.

**Chapter 10**

The sad thing about recovering from trauma is that just when you think major progress is being made, something will come along and set progress back. Eventually, with enough time, you will realize that where you started was far in the distance past. But sometimes it is the setbacks that completely override the victories.

Arizona Robbins could handle the nightmares and phantom pains in the middle of the night. It made for some really long nights and even longer day shifts. What Arizona couldn't stand, was when that pain in a leg that didn't even exist, started invading her waking hours.

Sometimes it was just an itch on the sole of her foot that no amount of scratching and scuffing her shoe on the floor would satisfy. Sometimes, she felt like her whole leg was being ripped to shreds, one fiber at a time. That was the worst. One second she would be fine and the next second she was practically hyperventilating to keep from screaming like a lunatic.

It was very clear to her that she was completely coming undone.

"Robbins, tell her to stop saying that." Alex was starring at her again. She glanced around. Did everyone think she finally flip her lid? But no one but Alex was paying her any attention.

"I'm sorry what?" She shifted her weight against the operating table, scratching at the back of her prosthesis with her right foot.

"Are you alright?" Christina looked oblivious to everything but Alex seemed concerned.

"Uh huh. Yeah." She just wanted out of the operating room.

"Take that to pathology. Stat."

For fear of seeming even crazier than she currently was, Arizona refrained from leaping over the table and kissing Christina Yang. The cardio surgeon just gave her an out.

"I'll take it. Alex take my place." Arizona spoke up before the nurse could move.

"The nurse can take it." Now he had a really worried look on his face and Arizona bit back the anger.

"I'll take it, I insist." It's so suffocating in the the room Arizona practically stumbled out of the room. She definitely was going crazy.

... R&I ...

Maura picked up the medicated q-tip from the plastic cup sitting on Jane's bed tray and softly ran it across Jane's chapped and cracking lips. Satisfied that, at least for a little bit, Jane would feel relief from that soreness, Maura caught the chair with a running shoe clad foot, pulled it closer and sat down. Her hands brushed over her wife's eyelids, yearning to feel even the tiniest of twitches. She swallowed back the lump in her throat, remembering the excitement from a the day before.

_Everyone, including Maura, was tossed unceremoniously from the hospital room and the privacy curtain was quickly pulled blocking their view._

_Frankie immediately started pacing and the Frost joined in. Tommy stood by her with a gentle hand on her arm. A nurse she didn't recognize took pitty on Angela and provided her with a chair._

_After what seemed like forever, Derek arrived and slipped into the room. When he came out with a slight smile everyone but Maura smiled with relief. "She's making the transition from persistent vegetative state to minimally conscious. She's not completely there yet. We need to keep giving her time."_

_Tommy spoke up, "Does that mean she's awake?"_

_Derek took a moment to look at the notes in Jane's file. "It means she has moments of being responsive."_

_"I don't understand." Angela spoke up. The crack in her voice sounded like thunder in the silent hallway._

_"Jane was able to follow some commands but when we repeated them she wasn't. I don't want to overwhelm her so the Super Bowl party is over." Derek motioned Maura to follow him back into Jane's room._

Maura looked up when the door creaked open and Frankie stuck his head in. She motioned him in the rest of the way. He was carrying a file box and tossed it unceremoniously on the couch.

"Here's the stuff Frost promised." Frankie opened the box pulling something out. Maura didn't really pay attention, she was too busy watching Jane. Today hadn't been a good day. Jane's blood pressure was up and her temperature was slightly elevated. She wasn't doing a good job of regulating those and her room was a constant stream of medical personal.

"Is she awake?"

Maura crinkled her forehead. "I don't think so." It was already noon and Jane had yet to open her eyes.

"Oh." Frankie sounded disappointed, as disappointed as she felt. He stood up, crossing over to his sister and cupped her forehead with his hand.

"Hey Janie. You have to wake up and get better. Cavanaugh is on self-destruct mode and it ain't pretty." He watched her for a minute waiting for any sign she heard him.

Nothing.

"That's o-okay." He cleared his throat when his voice cracked. Leaning down, he placed a gentle kiss on her temple and whispered into her ear. "Rest now. We'll be here when you're ready."

Maura gave her brother-in-law the privacy he deserved by glancing through the box of supplies Frost sent over. She and Cavanaugh made a deal. He would hire a different temporary chief medical examiner, effectively stopping Dr. Pike from ruining her department, and she would work on important cases with the promise to only be called to the field for absolute emergencies. In the meantime, she could work cold cases at her leisure.

It wasn't ideal, she'd rather focus solely on Jane but she was starting to grow bored with the monotony of endless days listening to heart monitors and the whoosh-whoosh of ventilators.

Maura glanced over at Frankie from the iPad Frost set her up with. He was still watching Jane, one hand resting lightly on her forehead, his thumb gently brushing back and forth in a soothing motion, the other holding her left hand. The look on his face broke Maura's heart. After a long moment, he sighed, leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

"I have to work now J-jan-n..." His voice broke again. Maura turned back to the iPad. After a long moment the hospital room door swung open.

She heard Frankie suck in a breath and shift next to Jane's bed. Maura looked first to Frankie, finding a deep scowl on his face, and then towards the door. Immediately she knew the cause.

"Hello Dad." Frankie didn't try to keep the hurt and contempt out of his voice.

Frank Sr. stood in the doorway. His eyes darting between Frankie and Maura. He glanced at his daughter and swallowed hard, quickly looking away.

Maura stood up, taking a step closer to Jane. No one had seen or heard from Frank Sr. in years and now he showed up. Maura sat up endless amount of nights with Jane as she mourned her father's complete abandonment of the family.

Frank Sr. cleared his throat taking a step further into the room, the clear glass door closing behind him.

"I just heard and I came as soon as I could."

"Maybe you would have heard about this sooner if you didn't abandon us. Does ma know you're hear?" Frankie spat, moving closer to the man he used to call dad. Maura moved around Jane's right side so she could keep an eye on her wife and the two men.

"No. Your mother doesn't know."

"You should leave dad. You really hurt Janie."

Frank shook his head no while stepping around his son. "Dr. Isles?" He implored. Maura opened her mouth to tell them to take it outside when an alarm next to the bed started blaring.

Maura shouldered past a stunned Frankie a moment before Doreen burst through the door. Tense moments later, Doreen pressed a button on the monitor and the alarm ceased. Both women relaxed.

"Is she okay?" Frankie asked. Frank Sr. had moved farther into the room and was now standing next to Jane's side.

Maura smiled at him, "You can touch her." Her voice was gentle, a smile radiating from her. It was the first real smile Frankie had seen on her in a long time. He relaxed slightly despite his pops being there.

"She's starting to breath on her own and her brain activity has increased." Doreen informed them before squeezing Maura's arm and exiting the room.

"Talk to her." She instructed Frank Sr. as she moved over to Jane again, picking up her left hand and cradling it between both of hers.

Frank looked at his oldest child, his baby girl, and his throat clogged up. She looked much worse than she did when she shot herself and she had looked almost as white as a sheet then. Now she just looked off and terribly injured, her face blank, fading bruises still visible, a tube coming out of the base of her neck.

"Jane, honey," Maura began when it became obvious Frank was frozen in place and not going to move. "You're father is here." She squeezed Jane's hand hard but there was no response.

"Talk to her Frank." Frankie called out, taunting his father into action. He couldn't believe the audacity that he had shown up in the first place and then wouldn't even open his mouth.

"You don't get to talk like that to me. I'm still your father!"

"You haven't been our father in years." Frankie nudged his father away from the bed.

"Hey!" A new voice cut through the yelling. Maura looked up and saw Arizona standing in the doorway, both hands on her hips. "This is a hospital. Get out." She looked between the two. Neither moved, stunned into silence. Her eyes darted over to the silenced monitors recording Jane's vitals. She didn't like the elevated heart rate, that had been fluctuating with the argument.

No one moved. "Out!" She raised her voice. "Jane doesn't need this. Take it outside or I'll get security in here."

She takes one step towards them and it startles them into action. The door closes behind them blocking out their hushed voices still arguing down the hallway.

Maura watches from her spot as her friend comes further into the room. Her observant eyes notice the limp that Arizona is trying not to show, dark rings underneath her eyes peak out through carefully applied make-up.

"Lunch." Arizona pulled out a salad container from her large bag and thrust it into Maura's hands. Maura sat it down on the table next to the hospital bed. Arizona could understand not being interested in food when under so much internal pain. But Maura was too thin and pale and focusing on her friend was good distraction against her own drama.

"You need to eat." She picked up the salad and grabbed Maura's hand, pulling her towards the small couch.

"How did table shopping go?" Maura nibbled at the salad, just to appease her friend, eventhough she knew she needed to keep her strength up for Jane's sake.

"Hmmpf."

"That bad?" Maura asked when Arizona just grimaced at the memory.

"I thought our argument over the colors of the walls was bad."

"I could always pick one out. I know all the great designers."

"I'll keep that in mind." She drawled out as she glanced towards the bed, noticing Jane's eyes were open and smiled.

"You're socket is loose." The smile slipped from her face. Maura was looking at the salad but glanced up and caught Arizona's eye. "You're limping more every time I see you. Are you still having phantom pains?"

Arizona dropped her head. "I'm loosing my mind."

"You're not. It's perfectly normal."

"I'll never be normal again!" Arizona bites back, but then she catches a glimpse of the once vibrant detective and feels a whole new level of guilt seep in. Maura grimaces but doesn't say anything. "It was one thing when it was only at night but now..." She trails off uselessly.

Maura looks contemplative before she moves over to the privacy curtain and pulls it. "Take it off."

"What?"

"Your prothesis silly. Take it off." Maura called over her shoulder, already moving towards the bathroom. She reemerges holding the mirror from the back of the door.

Arizona knows she looks like a caught fish, her mouth hanging open. First, she's barely even let Callie see her stump, there's no way she wants her best friend to see the grotesque image of what's left of her leg. Second, she can't possibly figure out what a full length mirror has to do with anything. Maybe, they all lost their minds.

"What?" She repeats again because all coherent thought flew out the window when Maura grabbed her good leg and physically turned her so she was reclining on the couch.

"I don't normally guess," Maura grimaced at the thought, "but I think it's safe to assume that you haven't talked to Callie about this. I'm a doctor, Arizona and we are going to trick your mind into seeing two healthy functioning legs. Now take it off."

Arizona bit back the retort that she was a medical examiner and hadn't been a real doctor in years. But that would be incredibly rude and her friend was trying to help her.

"Maura, you should focus on Jane. I'll be fine." She motioned towards the hospital bed.

Maura turned, setting the mirror down. "By the time I return I want that prothesis off or I'll take it off myself." She warned and she meant it.

She crossed over to the bed, noticing Jane's head had turned slightly towards them. She felt the tears start and angrily scrubbed at them. This was amazing, pivotal even. Jane might have well just finished a marathon. She couldn't have been prouder.

"Hi beautiful." She choked out pass the tears.

Jane's gaze remained glazed over and blank. That didn't surprise Maura yet she yearned to lock eyes with her wife and tell her how sorry she was for everything this last year.

She reached over she unstrapped Jane's left hand from the padded brace, all the while watching Jane's face for any signs that she recognized what was going on around her. Gently, she kissed Jane's hand before placing it on the pillow. Immediately, Jane started scrunching and unscrunching the pilllowcase, her hand in constant motion.

Maura fought the urge to stop the movement. It was a common reaction for brain injury patients and frankly she would take any movement from her normally hyperactive wife.

Maura cupped her wife's face, looking deep into the blank eyes. With a slight sigh, she placed a kiss on Jane's forehead. Reaching over to the cubbyhole beside the bed, she grabbed the soft hand towel that was always nearby and began to wipe the dried tear tracts from the left side of her wife's face. She carefully wiped the crust from her log eyelashes. More tears pooled over the still completely blown pupil. She flashed back to trying to calm down a completely distraught Angela in the early days of Jane's recovery as the tears constantly leaked from the damaged eye. She wiped the inside of Jane's ear where most of the tears were settling before placing the towel over it. They didn't need her getting an ear infection on top of everything else.

Jane's fingers slowed their needing of the pillow until they stopped all together. Maura wiped at her tears. Slowly, she looked over at the monitor, the ventilator doing all the breathing for her again. Her wife was gone again, drifting back into the abyss.

**TBC**

Please Review!'


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